DW8000 Arpeggiator question AND open dialog on modding?

[thecolorgold]

I've been using the same DW8000 for years as a real workhorse and I'll admit its time for some routine maintenance, but I continue to be miffed about one thing. Why have I always been unable to get the appreciator to sync with midi? I operated it as per the manual, notta. I tried it with midi time coming from a computer, then an MPC, then drum machines, notta. So whats the deal? is it a phantom feature that is in the manual, and appears to be on its operating system but is not actually possible? is it related to the other occasional midi glitches I encounter with the unit? (sometimes it hangs up on a note at fast ((+200bpm)) tempos) Is there a hardware or software fix?

Any ideas?

Past that. I was thinking of replacing the DW with an ex-8000 for live use, and relegating the keyboard to the studio, as well as modding the living h**l out of it. I know there is a fairly simple AUX in mod. Have people done that with success? Next question: upon reviewing the service documentation, I see there is room to add some dedicated analog pots for resonance and cutoff controls to the filter. Has anyone done this? Taking that even further; the filter is polyphonic, is it realistic to think of adding individual controls for each of the 8 voices?


Oh, and if someone could wave a magic wand and get the MG (LFO) to sync with midi well we are at it, that would be great.

Thoughts?

[Nistegmos]

Sorry, I don't know anything about the arpeggiation.

Several years ago I had a KORG DW-8000 and I successfully modified some of it. But the only mod i did to it was to transpose the normal pitch down an octave or two.

I did this by splicing a variable resister fader (it was actually a certain type of DJ crossfader) into the pitch bender. It worked well because the fader didn't have any kind of springing action nor detente. It just stayed wherever I put it. And since it was independent of the normal pitch bending components, they still worked.

Unfortunately, it was so many years ago and I no longer own the synth, that I couldn't give you any more precise details about the project.

I did also used to own a KORG Poly 61, and that I was able to bypass the filter on, also by splicing a switch into the mod wheel, but that's because on that synth the up and down motion of the mod wheel controls filtration. I don't think the DW-8000 is like that, but I don't remember completely to be honest.

Either way, good luck.

[FX23]

set clock timing to ext.

[thecolorgold]

Re: ext clock

I have tried doing everything as stated in the manual, so I'm not making that easy mistake... To clarify the problem though. The appegiator does and has always worked in the first three internal clock settings. I've just never been able to get it to trigger when using any of the external clock settings from an external time source, With external note data, or from the keyboard. It is Something that has always seemed a silly bug, but has never really bothered me that much. I just curious if anyone has any experience with the same problem.

Re: modding.

The idea of an extra realtime wide range pitch control is interesting. I'm definitely going to investigate the schematics on this one futher.

Super cool idea!

[FX23]

I've had a dw8000 for over 25 years i can confirm it works! make sure you are sending a midi clock signal to it!